Conservation work at the crumbling ancient Roman city of Pompeii began. The whole project budget estimated US$ 142 million and the EU is contributing US$ 56 million to the project which should be completed by 2015. The new preservation campaign follows a series of structural collapses at the popular tourist site near Naples -- including at the House of Gladiators, a building used for training the arena warriors, which collapsed into a heap of rubble in 2010. The collapses have been blamed on years of mismanagement and underfunding.

Buried by falling ash when nearby Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, buildings, streets and even curled-up corpses were found preserved when Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748. Today, the site draws 2.3 million visitors a year.

Now work is beginning on two buildings, known as the Criptoportico and the Casa dei Dioscuri. The fresh funding will be used to help protect the site from heavy rains that have contributed to the collapses, and to restore frescoes and increase security.

The new funds also will be put toward strengthening crumbling Roman villas, restoring damaged frescoes and improving video surveillance across the 44-hectare site.